Blog = 4th Grade Journal

Writing these blogs, kind of reminds me of writing my journals in the 4th grade. In both my 4th grade journals and these blogs, we are trying to communicate an idea or something significant happening in our lives. It's kind of funny that after all these years, I'm still in school writing about my thoughts and day to day activities.

In other news, my friend Matt just came home today and I think we're going to hang out. I'm quite excited. I'm writing about this in my communication blog because Matthew is going to school for film at Northwestern University. He is an infallible source of all things movies and media. It's been strange though, I haven't really seen a lot of his movies. It's different though, they have big productions. Me on the other hand, not so much. I try and do things on the cheap, but make it look really expensive and whatnot. One thing that helps to make things look better than they really are is this program Adobe After Effects. Let me tell you, I am a fan of this program. Here is an example I created that helps to elicit what it can do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKAmRvoUm9k

What a day to catch a floating Island!!! Using different techniques in this program, I was able to successfully recreate a floating gigantic island. Why you might ask? It's for a movie I'm making!

More to come!!

INCOMPETENCE!!!

Let me tell you a story.  Last year, my brother was awarded the title of Mr. Silver Lake, te regional talent show of his high school .  He primarily received this award thanks to a collaborative video him and I made.  Because of this epic win, we were invited back this year to produce a new video . So naturally, I have spent the better part of this week working on the video.  We just got back and to my great dismay, after spending nearly every second of my week filmng and editing this movie, they could not display it on their screen due to an audio visual error!!!

Curse you incompetent AV fools!!!!!  

Shutter Island

So I just saw Shutter Island, and I must say, it was really good. Leonardo DiCaprio was fantastic. I loved him in this movie. the man has such a way about the camera. I think what I loved most was how Leo emotes. I can see feelings building inside of him and when they finally erupt, it's something to behold.

Indie

I think indie filmmakers are doing a better job of creating movies than most big budget movie corporations. the people who make these movies are putting themselves on the line and are most of the time passionate people who aren't making a lot of money. I feel like these people are closer to the audience than the big movie-makers are. I don't know, it's just my opinion but nowadays a lot of independent movie-makers have the technology to produce a product that almost rivals studios such as Paramount. For instance, my buddy has this camera the Canon 7D. This has an incredible picture that shoots in near perfect picture quality. Take any still from his movie, and it looks better than a regular picture. Let me give you an example:

My friend and I made this movie called "The Trunk "for a film festival. We shot it on the Canon 7D. Take a look-ey

Click here to go to Vimeo

I'm blown away by this camera. Absolutely blown away. Please, anybody comment so I can further elaborate on my thoughts! haa

Busted Stuff

Busted. Stuff. I had to do a scene today in my acting class. I had virtually no rehearsal time and I was setting up a scene for another production I'm involved in and I dunno, just no time. So, I was up all nite last nite writing the scene out and blocking it and everything. I met up early with the girl (whom by the way is gorgeous) and quickly practiced the two scenes we needed to work on. While in rehearsal, we were relatively okay, we had the first scene nailed down, but I sort of left the second scene kind of open, you know give us some wiggle room to figure stuff out. We go to class me and her and at once, I noticed we were VERY over-dressed. I was in a full business suit whilst my partner was in this seductive dress. So we ended up being the last people up and the first scene we did was great! We worked well off of each other and it was generally a lot of fun. However, when we got started on the second scene, we had some trouble blocking. To begin with, it was a seduction scene so nerves were kind of high between us. She first laid across my piano and asked me if I was ready. I gulped and deliver my line. She looked good. Very good. The crowd laughed as my eyes hovered over her. As the scene progressed she made her way onto my lap and I. just. lost. it. I had this beautiful girl on top of me in the middle of acting class and all of these people were looking at me, and I completely lost it. The smooth Jim Sass of today was reduced to a bumbling fool. This girl did a total number on my nerves. You know when you kind of like somebody you act cool, and say the right things and all that stuff, but let me tell you, that was not the case for me earlier today.

So it turns out, everyone ended up really liking the scene and the teacher thought it was ballsy that we attempted something so intimate and intense. I felt like a complete moron and was really embarrassed, but I tried to make light of the situation and played it off the best I could. So all in all, I wouldn't call it a failure but it was definitely a new experience for me. Any thoughts? Helpful things would make me smile. hah :)

A New York State of Mind

hey hey hey, so just got back from NYC, and it was incredible. I legitimately filmed at a studio. hahaha It was crazy! We had models, make-up artists, a sound guy, A STUDIO! It was so much fun! My friend and I had a ton of creative control over the project. It felt... smooth. I was directing the actors, and then cue-ing lights, it was so much fun! I made a lot of great contacts. My favorite part of the entire trip was when we filmed on top of a skyscraper. The sun was setting and we had the entire New York skyline all around us. It was magical in every sense of the word.

One cool aspect of the shoot was the camera I filmed with. The Panasonic HMC-150. This piece of equipment was (for lack of better word) awesome. Another cool thing was the lighting. I have next to no experience in lighting scenes, but the director of this shoot sure did. We had all sorts of different lights on our talent, and I have to say, it makes a huge difference!! I was a fan to say the least.

So all in all, I'm proud to say every single time I've been to New York so far, has been because of movie-making, and this makes me smile. :)

Quizzes and Nappi

These timed quizzes! My lord I am having some trouble with these things. I will read each chapter and memorize all that I can, but as soon a I start the quiz, my mind just draws a huge blank. That countdown, seeing the live-countdown just does a number on my psyche. The quiz for week 5 was to simply match the vocabulary terms with their definition. I however thought there was more to the quiz so I rushed through it. I don't know, maybe I just need to study more efficiently and whatnot, but I'm just having a really tough time with these quizzes. Any suggestions?

In other news, I'm heading to New York this weekend to do a music video shoot for a man by the name of Michael Nappi, a very talented up and coming artist. We've got make-up artists, models, all of these people involved with this thing. I am very excited to say the least! Here is a link to some of his work!